Businesses produce a constant stream of data, from data files to images and videos. Space runs out quickly these days, with the different business transactions such as funds transfers, online payments, and payroll eating up so much space. And it’s frustrating when you run out of disk space on your computer when needed.
But you can quickly restore your data with an external backup solution. Hard drives eliminate these problems by providing ample space, convenience, and security for your data storage needs.
There are so many hard drives in the market, but here’s what you need to know to find the best hard drive for your business.
What is a Hard Drive?
Hard drives are arguably the most commonly used storage devices today. It is a fixed data storage device that links the hard disk and the host computer system. The hard drive uses a magnetic storage technology to transfer documents, programs, media files, and applications between the host memory and the motherboard.
How to Choose the Right Hard Drive for Your Business
Choosing the right hard drive for your business may be challenging. Business hard drives come in various sizes and capacities, which may resemble each other but differ in specs. These similarities make it confusing, and you may struggle to decide. But when buying a hard drive, you should consider several key features such as:
1. Storage Capacity
First, you must evaluate how much storage capacity your business needs to run smoothly. Assess your data, apps, and the methods and locations through which your business accesses it. You will better understand your storage requirements once you determine how much data your business handles, when it’s accessed and where it’s stored.
Adding an external hard drive to your computer is an easy and affordable way to expand your storage capacity. Whether storing your data or backing up office documents or digital images, your storage needs determine the size of the hard drive, which comes in capacities of up to 18 terabytes or more. If you have a lot of data to store, you’ll need a hard drive with a much larger capacity.
2. The Suitable HDD Interface
Once you’ve considered the storage capacity, you may also want to consider the suitable connection interface before selecting a hard drive for your business. The two primary interfaces are the Serial Advanced Technology (SATA) and the Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), which are the physical and mechanical methods a hard drive connects to a computer or server.
These two HDD interfaces are often available with almost similar model numbers but differ in appearance, use, power, and data connectors. Serial Advanced Technology (SATA) is used mainly to store and back data. Due to this, the business would be unable to maximize its potential when using SATA.
In contrast, the Serial Attached SCSI is the best choice for more functional business operations such as bank transfers, data storage, and highly computationally intensive operations. SAS is more reliable, suitable for high-performance server applications, and can generally run longer cables than SATA.
Direct-attached storage (DAS) is a perfect example of a hard drive that connects through the SATA and SAS HDD interfaces. DAS lives up to its name in terms of costs, high performance, and easy setup.
3. Hard Drive Security
You should take hard drive security seriously since it stores sensitive business information and may be prone to theft and loss. Most high-quality hard drives integrate with encryption software that safeguards your computer and network data, minimizing the risk of data breaches.
Anyone without the appropriate key or password cannot read data on an encrypted hard drive. Some hard drives come in casings to prevent physical tampering or pin-code entry system for extra security. Consider these advanced security features before purchasing a hard drive for your business.
Conclusion
A hard drive is necessary to ensure that all your business operations are up and running. You need to consider the storage capacity, appropriate HDD interface, and security to simplify your search and make a wise choice when purchasing a hard drive.
If your business runs smoothly, you can be confident it is on its way to success.